It would hardly be the Pan American Games if the Cubans were not defecting to the United States. That’s what happened — again — over the weekend when four Cuban rowers — Liosmel Ramos, Wilber Turro, Manuel Suarez and Orlando Sotolongo — took off for the U.S. from the nearby Pan Am venue in St. Catharines. They have been in touch with teammates through Facebook according to their coach They are following a time-honoured practice by running away. A Cuban boxer defected in 1967 from the first Pan Am Games in Winnipeg. Eight members of the Cuban delegation defected when Canada last hosted the Pan Am Games in 1999. Cuban officials at the time alleged that Canadian media were encouraging athletes to betray Cuba. Two players from the Cuban women’s soccer team defected in 2011 after facing off with the Canadian team in Vancouver in an Olympic qualifying match. They crossed into the U.S., where they were reunited with relatives. And three Cuban soccer players fled to the U.S. the night before a World Cup qualifying match in Toronto in the fall of 2012. They now play for a lower-tier professional league in Charleston, S.C.
